Investigating the compliance of COVID-19 protocols in the workplaces of Ardabil, Iran.

Background: Workplaces are prone to the current outbreak- of COVID-19. Despite the production of the COVID-19 vaccine, due to some challenges in vaccinating all people worldwide, adherence to health protocols is still one of the ways to prevent infection.

Objective: This study was conducted with the purpose of investigating the compliance of COVID-19 protocols in the workplaces of Ardabil, Iran.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional research conducted on the workplaces affiliated to Ardabil University of Medical Sciences between August and September, 2020. A researcher-designed checklist was completed once in early August and once at the end of September for the workplaces. Accordingly, these workplaces were inspected for any compliance with the COVID-19 prevention protocols by health centers during August and September. In addition, the number of patients with COVID-19 was determined for each one of the workplaces.

Results: The results showed that the highest increase was related to screening (57.8%) and the lowest change was related to personal hygiene (1.3%). The rates of increase in performance for small workshops, offices and industries were 35.4%, 33.1%and 12.4%, respectively. Moreover, a linear and inverse relationship was found between the incidence of COVID-19 and the level of observance of the OVID-19 prevention protocols.

Conclusions: Based on the results of this study, the inspection made by legal authorities led to the increased commitment of workplace managers to implement prevention programs, thereby increasing the observation level of these protocols in the workplace and reducing the incidence of COVID-19.